Good morning... Morning after morning, I choose a different coffee mug for a different reason. Today I sip from a big, blue mug bearing the words: "Donut Hole - Established in 1978." A few years back, our 22-year-old son and I bought matching keepsakes after enjoying a yummy breakfast at the Donut Hole restaurant near Rosemary Beach, Florida. I [...]
Good morning... A few months back I agreed to facilitate a Sunday school class at a large, local church this morning. I have loved teaching this class in the past and was looking forward to collaboratively learning with this great group again. Earlier in the week, I had exchanged emails with the organizer, sharing the topic, finalizing the details, [...]
Good morning... There are many reasons why today our posts are changing format. Streamlining my writing process in the early morning hours will be a time-saver for me. Touching the "Everyday Blog" tab, you can easily scrolling back to enjoy old messages you may have missed. It drives me crazy when the print font is funky and inconsistent; this [...]
Good Morning... As I soaked in the stillness of the Ignatius House Retreat Center, choice words of reflection came to rest upon my page. "Safe. Secure. Simple. That was my old unblemished life. Through a series of large, crashing waves, God separated me from the life of my childhood dreams. Clarity, comfort, connection all tumbled, tumbled, tumbled away. With God saying 'no' [...]
Good morning... After Jesus' death and resurrection, the world's power people were trying to silence the apostles. "Stop talking about this Jesus!" they demanded. When pressed to choose between obeying God and obeying men, the first followers chose God, sharing personally about Jesus everywhere they went. When the council members heard this, they became so angry that they wanted [...]
Good morning... So many of us have seen and loved the movie Same Kind of Different As Me, yet there is one sacred moment I miss from the book that did not appear in the Hollywood version. “Early in the morning, the doorbell rang,” writes Ron Hall on page 182. “When I opened the door, I saw Denver standing [...]
Good Morning... Four words will always stay with me from the book I am teaching on Mondays and Fridays in our modest living room. "When in doubt, wait," Jan Johnson writes in When the Soul Listens. Deciding this, that, or the other. When in doubt, wait. Compelled to vent anger yet trying to walk in love. When in doubt, [...]
Good Morning... In times of crisis, tragedy, and transition, old faith pillars are tested. As I searched for my lost, hurting soul in 2004, I wrote these words on my June 10th journal page. "The core of my faith is this: God wants a relationship with each one of us. As we surrender our lives to Christ, God fills [...]
Good Morning... One line lingers from yesterday's post: God, make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life (Psalm 51:10, MSG). Chaos. During times of loss, grief, transition, we know the experience and we hate the word. Her synonyms often grow like unwanted weeds. Disrupted disarray. Uprooted upheaval. Tumultuous turmoil. A muddled mess of maybes. I find [...]
Good Morning... I was the first to wake in my friend's mountain home. Surprise. Surprise. As I shuffled my way down the stairs in the dimly lit dark, I noticed a children's book sitting in a pile on the third step from the bottom: Same Kind of Different As Me For Kids: Everybody Can Help Somebody by Ron Hall [...]
